Root River Diary: Counting on Your Neighbors

Valentines Day 2023 was the day I met some of our neighbors and learned more of the reasons we live in a small town.

I was sitting in the living room, reading something on the computer, and my hand started to go numb. In a few minutes the numbness was going up my arm. My son walked in the room and I told him my arm was going numb. Without hesitation, he went to the phone and called 911. A minute later our mailman was at the front door. His car was parked at the mailbox and he was carrying something down our front steps.

He wasn’t delivering a package. What he was carrying was an EMT first aid kit. He had heard the 911 call on his scanner as he pulled up to our mailbox. Perfect timing. He checked my vitals and asked some questions. I don’t remember the conversation clearly but he told me an ambulance was on its way. His wife would be driving.

The ambulance arrived a few minutes later. Our mailman and my wife helped me get into the back of the ambulance. The mailman went back to delivering the mail. To my surprise, riding with me in the ambulance was our neighbor up the hill, a local woodworker.

The ride to La Crosse was smooth and unhurried or so it seemed to me. My speech was a little garbled. The rest of the day was spent getting scans, talking with doctors, getting shots, asking questions, and seeing more doctors. I spent the night in the hospital and was discharged the next day.

The numbness had gone away that evening in the hospital. Prompt action had possibly averted something worse. I felt mortal but was grateful for the prompt actions of our local people. Nothing heroic, no one grandstanding, everyone just doing the right thing.

Just smalltown people helping their neighbors.

— Don Bell